Abstract / Summary

New technologies are transforming the ways in which cinematic content are produced, exhibited, consumed and engaged with. This process of digital disruption poses a challenge to both the film industry and to the academic study of film. Yet both the medium of film and its study as an academic discipline have long been engaged in responding to threats to their standing, practices and validity. For film education, the challenge of digital disruption can be addressed. This paper examines how film education can navigate this new terrain and proposes two ways in which it can situate itself in response. Firstly, by recognising the role of the Internet, now significant in working through the debates surrounding cinematic practice, its scholarship and training, and by embracing technological opportunities. Secondly, by adopting a collaborative and theory-led practice education model akin to that of the National Film School of Denmark. In responding to the challenges of digital disruption, film education must engage in the critical discussion of existing and historical industrial practices and adopt a proactive as opposed to reactive role in the shifting parameters of contemporary film and cinema.